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Sapphire Aberdeen

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Thought I would share an experience in the hope that if this ever happens to you then you know what to do quickly.

We cruise at Loch Lomond, was a nice day with very little wind. Was up in the fly bridge, family went below as it was a little cold with wind chill. Doing 25 knots all good. Then all of a sudden the gauges on the dash went to zero. Just like before you start up. Thought there was something wrong with the engines and started to throttle back. Nothing. Stayed doing 25 knots. Pressed eng stop switchs. Nothing.

Checked our position and enabled autopilot and ran down to lower helm. Took command at that station and tried everything to regain throttle control. Nothing. Vhfed a Mayday call.

As we were only a few minutes till the end of the loch I decided to turn her arround and give me sometime to work out my options. Instructed the family to get life jackets on just in case. Kids started crying. Tried all the stop switchs, ignition keys, checked voltage that looked okay. Still no throttle response. So what next. It just came to me that I needed to isolate fuel. Luckily I knew exactly where to go to isolate so completed that and within a few seconds, maybe 15 the engines started to reduce power till then completed stopped. Downgraded from a mayday to pan pan.

Hope this never happens to any of you, but if it does you know what to do quicker than me hopefully.
 
Thanks for sharing. Not so much knowing what to do, but having the presence of mind to remember what to do under pressure. Hats off to you for averting a real disaster and for bringing it to everyone's attention so there's a better chance the rest of us will remember to act likewise. Do let us all know what the problem was when you get it diagnosed and sorted. All the best for that as well.
 
What engines? My KAD300's have an emergency (electrical) cut off switch next to the black box, which i've extented up to the helm so I can hit them if needed
 
They are Cats. Not sure if the electrical cut off would have worked I was turning on and off both engine keys and the mail engine start key to no avail. I'll report back once I find a specialist who can give everything a health check. Happy boating!
 
There's probably corrosion on some connectors somewhere, probably ground. A VP EFI petrol engine boat did the same to me once, thankfully ruining on the hard. I turned the key to off, it kept on running. I pulled the kill cord, it kept on running ( so how reliable are they anyhow ?.)The only way to stop it was to pull the sensor connection off the distributor.

Somehow the engine circuitry had found an alternative way of supplying power to the ECU. There was a lot of corrosion on the multiple engine ground connections ( the mix of metals GM and Volvo used on those studs/ nuts , with no corrosion protection was absolutely outstanding !). After cleaning them up ( and applying silicone grease) the problem did not ever recur.
 
Sapphire Aberdeen said:
They are Cats. Not sure if the electrical cut off would have worked I was turning on and off both engine keys and the mail engine start key to no avail. I'll report back once I find a specialist who can give everything a health check. Happy boating!
Click to expand...

A little more detail would be very helpful, your original post was most confusing as it was headed EDC which led people to think you had Volvo Penta engines.

CAT electronic controls are VERY robust and fail safe, Americans are litigation obsessed and I would suggest more user friendly than Volvo stuff.

What is the make of the vessel?

What make are your controls CAT branded Glendinning?

Out of interest how old is the vessel and how long have you owned it, CAT distributor is excellent at policing installations however builders can still pull some dumb stunts.

Even with limited oversight once tec from Finning plugs in ET you will discover somebody has committed a schoolboy blunder and not a CAT electronic system issue.
 
Latestarter1 said:
A little more detail would be very helpful, your original post was most confusing as it was headed EDC which led people to think you had Volvo Penta engines.

CAT electronic controls are VERY robust and fail safe, Americans are litigation obsessed and I would suggest more user friendly than Volvo stuff.

What is the make of the vessel?

What make are your controls CAT branded Glendinning?

Out of interest how old is the vessel and how long have you owned it, CAT distributor is excellent at policing installations however builders can still pull some dumb stunts.

Even with limited oversight once tec from Finning plugs in ET you will discover somebody has committed a schoolboy blunder and not a CAT electronic system issue.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion, I didn't know that EDC was only for Volvo Engines.. The controls are Micro Commander with Mathers 585 Actuators. I've found that Atlantis Marine seem to be the distributor in the UK so I'll be calling them tomorrow after the bank holiday. The boat is a Princess 440 (1996), overall very reliable but clearly there is something not right with these controls. The funny thing is when speaking to people at the marina they are all coming out with stories of boats leaving there berth under similar situations as mine. It seems strange to me that there isn't a failsafe on such a critical component. Anyway, mechanic is on the case and I'll be calling Atlantis Marine so I'll post the update once the root cause is located.
 
Sapphire Aberdeen said:
Sorry for the confusion, I didn't know that EDC was only for Volvo Engines.. The controls are Micro Commander with Mathers 585 Actuators. I've found that Atlantis Marine seem to be the distributor in the UK so I'll be calling them tomorrow after the bank holiday. The boat is a Princess 440 (1996), overall very reliable but clearly there is something not right with these controls. The funny thing is when speaking to people at the marina they are all coming out with stories of boats leaving there berth under similar situations as mine. It seems strange to me that there isn't a failsafe on such a critical component. Anyway, mechanic is on the case and I'll be calling Atlantis Marine so I'll post the update once the root cause is located.
Click to expand...

No point wasting your money on a tec unless he is bang up to speed with Mathers controls (Very good kit) and has CAT ET tool on his lap top all completely pointless. If you had a system issue the fault will be logged, having tec plugging and unplugging looms spraying WD40 40 everywhere like a one legged man at ass kicking competition may make competent certified tecs job more difficult cost you more in the long run.

Marine controls are fail safe, I would not bother listening to 'dock talk' sounds like a lot of boaters on loch Lomond are a little clueless about their control systems.

Assume you had throttles synchronised and syc cruise activated?

Not sure if this applies to your generation of controls but which of your engines is set up as the master?
 
Latestarter1 said:
A little more detail would be very helpful, your original post was most confusing as it was headed EDC which led people to think you had Volvo Penta engines.

CAT electronic controls are VERY robust and fail safe, Americans are litigation obsessed and I would suggest more user friendly than Volvo stuff.

What is the make of the vessel?

What make are your controls CAT branded Glendinning?

Out of interest how old is the vessel and how long have you owned it, CAT distributor is excellent at policing installations however builders can still pull some dumb stunts.

Even with limited oversight once tec from Finning plugs in ET you will discover somebody has committed a schoolboy blunder and not a CAT electronic system issue.
Click to expand...

If my hunch is right there cat 3208 mechanical engines with matters controls fitted by our Aquapower of the forum at broom boats way back.

There reliant on a feed from both engine and house batteries , if voltage drops on either they play up, especially when trying to start from cold.
 
volvopaul said:
If my hunch is right there cat 3208 mechanical engines with matters controls fitted by our Aquapower of the forum at broom boats way back.

There reliant on a feed from both engine and house batteries , if voltage drops on either they play up, especially when trying to start from cold.
Click to expand...

Ho hum, if dumb mechanical engines with smart controls and not full authority CAT 3126E then all bets are off.
 
volvopaul said:
If my hunch is right there cat 3208 mechanical engines with matters controls fitted by our Aquapower of the forum at broom boats way back.

There reliant on a feed from both engine and house batteries , if voltage drops on either they play up, especially when trying to start from cold.
Click to expand...

Paul, does sound like the one, about 10 years back, CAT 3208, and fitted morse KE4 controls
 
And also some story details missing.

1. Who is the Mayday aimed at on Loch Lomond - is there an authority who will respond or is it aimed at anyone with a radio (genuinely interested, not a dig)
2. You left the story where you had stopped the engines by cutting the fuel, this would leave you in the lake, how did you get home?
 
mlines said:
And also some story details missing.

1. Who is the Mayday aimed at on Loch Lomond - is there an authority who will respond or is it aimed at anyone with a radio (genuinely interested, not a dig)
Click to expand...

Loch Lomond has the LPA (Loch Lomond Park Authority) which monitors / is available on Channel 16. Also, Belfast Coastguard can be picked up on LL (I know as I once found a sinking jetski with an adult and kid clinging to it in the middle of the loch, and called the Coastguard to advise; they then dispatched the Loch Lomond Rescue boat).

However, depending where you are on LL the coverage is between very good to non-existent.

Sapphire, sounds like you had a terrible experience! I hope all the family will soon forget it! And hopefully you'll be back in business soon on A leg (I'm on B Leg).

Cheers
Kenny
 
After I downgraded to panpan, the Luss lifeboat towed me to a public jetty at tarbet I overnighted there and got a tow back to my berth by Loch Lomond rescue boat the next day. On Loch Lomond the LPA monitor 16 & 67 but like Kenny mentions below there are a lot of black spots and its hit or miss. I think my mayday was received by Belfast coastguard and relayed to LPA.
 
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